Life Time Achievement Winner - Carol Whitaker

Mrs Murphy nominated, posthumously, Mrs Carol Whitaker who was a coach at Hinckley Ladies Netball club and St. Martin’s Catholic Academy for many years.

Carol Whitaker was a member of Hinckley Ladies netball club for many years and an ex-pupil of St. Martin’s Catholic school. As a student, she was an enthusiastic netball player and as a Mum, she continued to play for Hinckley ladies and became a very keen supporter of netball at her old school, as an invaluable coach and umpire. Since 2002, she helped to coach and inspire so many girls at St. Martin’s and provided links with our local club. Many of our girls have played for Hinckley ladies as a result of her encouragement and some have gone on to play at County and regional level. Carol was fun-loving, down to earth, encouraging, compassionate and a wonderful coach; who willingly gave up so much of her own time to train and accompany teams to matches, tournaments and annual netball tournaments to Torquay. She lived for her family and for netball. It was a real family passion; daughters, Lara and Carmen and her twin sister, Jayne, all excellent netballers, were also encouraged to help and support with school netball whenever possible. In the Summer of 2013, Carol was unfortunately involved in a severe motor scooter accident, which left her paralysed from the chest down. Throughout her rehabilitation, she continued to be truly inspirational – always positive, and spoke about eventually possibly getting involved in Paralympic sport. Tragically, earlier this year, Carol suddenly passed away. This lifetime achievement award would be a fitting way to acknowledge and thank a truly wonderful and giving lady for her commitment to promoting netball in our area; as a player, coach, umpire and volunteer. She will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.

Nomination Category: Junior Sportsperson of the year Nominee - Charlotte Law

Charlotte’s highest achievements over the last year include:

September 2013 – East Midlands All-Around and Individual Championships 2013 (1st on Vault, Bars, Beam and Floor and 1st Overall) November 2013 – Regional Club Team Championships (member of the Gold Medal winning Team) November 2013 – Regional County Team Championships (member of the Senior Gold Medal winning Team) June 2014 – Leicestershire County Club Team Championships (member of the Gold Medal winning Team) June 2014 - Leicestershire All-Around and Individual Championships 2014 – became Leicestershire County Champion for 5th time September 2014 – East midlands All-Around and Individual Championships 2014 (1st Bars, 3rd floor, beam and Vault and 2nd Overall) October 2014 – Leicestershire Club Team Championships 2014 (member of the gold Medal winning Team)

Charlotte has been a very high achieving gymnast over the past few years, competing, and consistently winning, at County and Regional level. Her enthusiasm and dedication to her sport continues to be outstanding and inspiring to others. Within school, and despite her training commitments, she works extremely hard to maintain high standards of attainment in her coursework and is an excellent all-round talented young sportswoman, particularly in athletics and netball. She would be in any number of teams, if she had more time! This year she has been selected to be an Academy sports leader. Charlotte is a quiet, polite and very modest young lady, who is a fantastic role model for younger students and for her peers. This award would be thoroughly deserved and the icing on the cake of another outstanding year.

As we begin to expand as a school, we are beginning to develop our site as well. We managed to get a large funding grant earlier this year to build a new English and Modern Foreign Languages block. The architects sketch is below, although the final facade will be brick and timber.

The new block will comprise of 6 new classrooms, new toilets and some office space. The build will take around five months to complete, ready to move in this summer. As part of the plans we are also significantly expanding the car parking (Many parents will be delighted to hear!). We are also fencing the school site and improving our security.